MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
Our Early History
From notes by Kate Andrews ca 1965
In 1670, the English Crown had given all the land drained by
the rivers flowing into Hudson's Bay, to Prince Rupert by
Charter. The land was owned by the Hudson's Bay Co.,
properly called "The Gentlemen Adventurers, Trading into
Hudson's Bay", who used the area for fur trading. Lord
Selkirk had established a settlement on the Red River near
Winnipeg to keep a check on the North West Fur Trading
Co. of Montreal.
In 1811, when Lord Selkirk purchased 116,000 square miles
of land from the Hudson's Bay Co., it was partly in Manitoba,
partly in Minnesota, and partly in North Dakota. The
settlement met with many setbacks. Settlers from the other
British colonies in the Maritimes and eastern Canada were
told of hardships by the fur traders who resented their
coming, as civilization drove the animals farther away
from the posts. The trek west, up the Great Lakes into
the land of lakes at the western end, was a grim journey.
Most who came west came through the United States.
It was an easier route, with better provision for supplies
and refitting along the way.
The political leaders of the American frontier states openly
pushed expansion into British territory, and there is
strong evidence that this movement was tolerated by
Washington, if not directly encouraged. This made
the Government of Upper and Lower Canada uneasy.
In 1865 Sir John A. Macdonald, George Cartier, George
Brown and Sir Alexander Galt, journeyed to London to
discuss the vital importance of opening up the Canadian
north west to enterprise and immigration. Confederation
was another important question and politicians were aware
that time was running out. In 1866 a bill was presented
to the House of Representatives in Washington providing
for "The states of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada
East and Canada West". Provision was also made for
the organization of the Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan
and Columbia. Article XI of this presumptuous bill stated
'The United States,would pay ten million dollars to the
Hudson's Bay Co. in full discharge of all claims and
territory or jurisdiction of North America, whether
founded on the charter of the Company or any treaty,
law or usage."
In 1846, the Oregon Treaty signed by the United States
and Great Britain settled on the 49th parallel as the
base line border in the west. The details of the line
at the Pacific and on the west end of Lake Superior
was not defined and cleared until Jay's Treaty
between Canada and the United States was signed
in 1874.
In the mid 1860's gold was discovered along the banks
of the Saskatchewan River, and in 1868 the
Minnesota Legislature protested (to Britain) the
transfer of the Hudson's Bay Co. territories to
Canada without a vote of the settlers. It further
passed a resolution saying "It would rejoice to be
assured that the cession of the North West British
Territories to the United States was regarded by
Britain and Canada, as satisfactory provisions of a
treaty, which shall remove all ground of controversy
between the respective countries."
Until 1867 the British colonies in North America consisted
of five colonies, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince
Edward Island, Quebec and Ontario. There was a small
English settlement on the West coast and Ontario and
Quebec had been won from the French in 1763. The
Constitution Act of 1791 named the two provinces
Upper and Lower Canada. The Act of Union, 1841,
gave the first responsible government to these provinces,
but the Maritimes had it much earlier.
The Confederation agreement was not easily obtained.
Sir Alexander T. Galt introduced the subject of unity of
the British colonies in North America into practical politics,
when he spoke of it during a meeting of the Federation
of the North American Provinces in 1858. Sir Alexander
at that time was leader of the English minority in Lower
Canada's parliament. The Maritime provinces were also
considering a union, and in September 1864, the
Charlottetown conference was held in Prince Edward Island.
Representatives gathered from Newfoundland, Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island to
discuss a Maritime confederation.
Observers from Upper and Lower Canada were present
and extended an invitation to all to attend a conference
in Quebec on October 10, 1864, to discuss a Canadian
Confederation. At this conference, agreement to proceed
was given by all except Newfoundland and Prince Edward
Island. Sir Alexander Galt attended both these conferences,
as well as taking part in the negotiations held in London
with the British Cabinet and the Minister for Colonial Affairs.
At one of the meetings held in London to discuss the clauses
of the British North America Act, which established
Confederation, the question of a name arose. Quoting
a verse from the Bible, "His dominion shall be from sea
to sea, and from the rivers to the end of the earth",
Sir Leonard Tilley suggested that the name be 'Dominion
of Canada'.
In 1867 after long discussions and many setbacks, the
Agreement of Confederation was signed by Upper and
Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Prince
Edward Island joined later.
The British North America Act became law on July 1, 1867.
The Hudson's Bay Co., with its English shareholders,
The year Palliser was commissioned to make the first
During the years from its establishment, 1670, until
In the early 1860's, the Hudson's Bay Co. was closing
The decline of the fur trade made the Hudson's Bay Co.
In 1871, after the Canadian Government pledged that
The trading post of Fort Whoop-Up, established in 1867
Operated by two Americans, Hamilton and Healy, it was
The trading post dealt in the same line of goods as other
Fort Benton on the Missouri River, 70 miles northeast of
Fort Benton was over 200 miles from Ft. Whoop-Up, Fort
The Benton trail crossed the Belly river from Ft. Whoop-Up
A Murphy wagon was one type of wagon used in the
The teamster used a goad which had a sharp prod on
Oxen were turned out at evening, a young ox yoked to
Two farms in this area were broken by the use of oxen.
The Northwest Mounted Police had established law and
The original owners of Fort Whoop-Up, Hamilton and Healy
Dave Akers was the agent at the fort when Commissioner
The trade at Fort Whoop-Up dwindled, as duties were
When the trading Post closed, Akers, his Indian wife,
One morning he saddled up and rode to Purcell's. There
Tom Purcell was charged with murder, but he pleaded self
Nicholas Sheran came to Fort Whoop-Up about 1870 with
His sister, Marcella Sheran, came up the Missouri river by boat,
The buffalo were decimated by the Indians, and buffalo
Howell Harris started the first cattle ranch in Southern Alberta,
As their term of service expired, many former North West
The Dominion government leased land to ranchers at a rental
The days when the grass was free were nearly over, farmers
In 1883, before farming was general, the prices received for
The big cattle spreads established with English funds and
Curly Whitney had been a farrier and blacksmith with the
South of the W. D. Whitney place, or upriver, was the Paddy
A survey of southern Alberta as well as locating the fifth
Mr. Russell was also an early miner in the area, while Nick
One of the last of the ranchers on the river was George
The Galt family is referred to by historians as Empire Builders,
John Galt was English and had served an English company
His son, Sir Alexander Tillock Galt, served Canada well, not only in
The coal was to be carried by barge to Medicine Hat, and to this
Coal Co. had a contract to deliver 5,000 tons of coal to the
Sir Alexander Galt raised $150,000.00 to build a railroad from
The North West Coal and Transportation Co. received 320 acres
The original town on the river bottom had been moved to the
Mr. Magrath never shirked a responsibility and he had land to sell.
Once construction of the main canal and branches to
Four provinces now formed Canada, Ontario, Quebec,
had received discouraging reports on the land values
of its holdings. In 1857 Capt. John Palliser had been
commissioned by the Imperial Government to make a
technical survey of the area south of the North
Saskatchewan River, between the Red River and the
Rockies. He was to report on the physical features,
minerals and coal, forest resources, suitability of soil
for farming, and quality of soil. His was a gloomy
report. He referred to it as the Northern American Desert.
In his opinion there were no forests, no minerals, little
rain, and the land was not fit to support humans. It
was only fit for buffalo. Reports filtering east on the
American side of the border, reinforced Palliser's findings.
The area from Mexico to mid Alberta was referred to as
the "Great American Desert". Little was known of
southern Alberta before the North West Mounted Police
arrived in 1874. Much of the region was a blank
space on Canadian maps. Early traders knew the
country, but this knowledge had not been recorded
on maps.
technical survey in Western Canada, Sir George
Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Co., told a
committee of the British House of Commons, "that
no part of the territories of the company were well
adapted for settlement". He added "That in the
Saskatchewan country the company's servants
had very seldom been able to raise wheat, and
the coast of British Columbia was wholly unfit for
colonization." However in 1849 the Hudson's Bay Co.
got a land grant of Vancouver Island, not to colonize,
but to hold in check the American traders from the
south.
1869, the Hudson's Bay Co. had never encouraged
farming near its posts or started any settlements,
except for the tacit consent given to Lord Selkirk to
form a settlement on the Red and Assiniboia rivers in
1812, near the present city of Winnipeg.
its forts as the price of beaver skins dropped and the
falling number of beaver and other furs taken, made
the operation of the posts uneconomical.
consider favorably the offer of the Canadian government
to purchase the western plains. An agreement was
reached in 1869 and Canada purchased the four
Western provinces for $300,000.00. When it sold
the land, the Hudson's Bay Co. retained its trading
privileges along with two sections, (8 and 26) in
after Canada had purchased the land from the Hudson's
Bay Co.
a transcontinental railroad would be built to link the
west coast to the east, British Columbia joined
confederation, and in 1873, Prince Edward Island
became a Canadian province.
near the junction of the St. Mary's and Old Man River,
was an early settlement in Southern Alberta.
supplied from Fort Benton in Montana. The post was
called Fort Hamilton, after one of the partners, Alfred B.
Hamilton, but later came to be known as Fort Whoop-Up.
The cannon that guarded Fort Whoop-Up is now at
the Fort Whoop-Up Interpretive Centre, and a cairn
marks the old site. The first buildings were not strongly
constructed, and when fire partially destroyed them in
1870 they were rebuilt on a new location about 300 yards
north, by William S. Gladstone, a former boat builder of
the Hudson's Bay Company.
fur company posts; groceries, guns, shot and powder, and
whiskey. In trade they took furs, horses and buffalo hides.
Buffalo hides played a part in the industrial development
of the United States and Canada, as they were used as
belts for the early industrial machines, the reapers and
threshing machines. The hides also became robes and
coats. No record exists locally to show the number sent
south by the early traders, but Fort Benton records show
trade of 70,000 hides a year.
Great Falls, was established in 1850 by Col. Cuthbertson.
It was the end of navigation for boats coming from St. Louis,
Missouri, with provisions for the Western states. The I. G.
Baker Co., later Conrad Brothers, had a wholesale-retail
outlet in Fort Benton where food staples, hardware, guns,
powder and lead bullets, shoes, clothing and furniture,
and any other supplies needed by the traders and settlers
could be purchased.
Macleod and later Lethbridge. There were no railroads,
no roads, no cars and no aeroplanes. How then did
people and goods get to Southern Alberta? They came
by 'bull team" or oxen with heavy wagons on what was
known as the Benton Trail, part of a travel route that
extended the length of the American continent, just
east of the Rocky Mountains. After the Northwest
Mounted Police came to Fort Macleod, this last link
travelled by white men was extended to Calgary,
where it met a much older trail to Edmonton and the
north.
and moved east ,just south of the Felger farm, swinging
south at the east end of the lake at Stirling, then
southwest of the Sweetgrass Hills and on to Fort
Benton. When Lethbridge was formed, the road branched
east of the Felger Colony farm and moved north to
cross the Six Mile coulee at the J. J. Tiffin farm, then
northwest into Lethbridge. The present Galt Gardens
in Lethbridge is where the bull teams outspan.
bull team train. This was a very heavy wagon that
could carry ten to twelve tons of freight. It had large
wheels, sometimes with iron tires up to six inches across,
sometimes wrapped with rawhide made from buffalo hides.
Hide was easily available at that time, while blacksmiths
and iron were only available at Benton. Occasionally
two of these wagons were hitched as a unit, the rear
wagon trailing, while the bulls or oxen were hitched
to the front wagon. From 8 to 16 oxen hitched in pairs,
formed the team. Yokes of wood were used, sometimes
horse collars, but these were used upside down on oxen.
The harness had no breaching, so the wagons were
equipped with brakes or heavy drags for steep down hill
stretches of road. The leaders of the team were the
fastest walkers, the swingers or second pair, the steadiest
in an emergency, and the wheelers did the heavy work,
and formed the balance of the team.
one end and a lash 16 feet long on the other. The words
of command were "gee" and "haw", and profanity when
things went wrong, such as deep mud, hordes of flies
and mosquitoes, or thunder storms. For rocky, stony
roads, oxen were sometimes shod, two half moon plates
for each foot.
a quiet, broken ox to graze. A good trip from Benton to
Macleod took a month, two and a half months was allowed
for a round trip. George Levasseur, who resided at Pincher
Creek in later years, was a noted "bull whacker" of the
early trail days. The trains were made up of many wagons
travelling together, for company, help, and security. The
Indians of Montana were not as peaceful as those in Alberta,
as this was the era of Custer and the Battle of the Little
Big Horn when Sitting Bull rebelled in 1867. A train camped
near water if available, and made from 6 to 20 miles a day,
depending on loads, weather conditions and grazing
George Heathershaw broke the NW 114 15-8-21 W4, or
as many may know it, the C. E. Parry farm, and the last
oxen used in the district were on the S.E. 1/4 26-8-21 W4
- 2 miles north of the McNally School, by Mr. William
Lloyd. While oxen in the early days were referred to as
bulls, they were actually steers broken to harness and
wagon work.
order under nCommissioner French in 1873 and Colonel
Macleod in 1876. The vast herds of buffalo had
disappeared, leaving the Indians starving. Thirty
thousand hides had been shipped to Fort Benton from
Fort Whoop-Up and other south Alberta Posts, but in
the year 1879, the number dropped to 14,000.
went on to other ventures. Alfred B. Hamilton returned to
Montana and was later elected to the state Legislature.
John J. Healy appeared during the Klondike gold rush days
in the Yukon, where he operated a transport company.
Later he returned to Montana, died a pauper and was
buried there.
French brought the North West Mounted Police through
Southern Alberta in 1874. The Police offered $10,000.00
to Hamilton and Healy to purchase the fort for the site of
the Police headquarters in Southern Alberta. The offer was
refused as it is reported to have cost $25,000.00 to construct
the post, so the Police moved on to Macleod.
imposed on imports and the whiskey trading to the Indians
was curbed. Dave Akers remained, however, as a rancher,
until a quarrel with a former partner over division of livestock,
led to murder.
and children remained. He had a few cattle he ran with
the herd of Tom Purcell on the Pot Hole, six miles
southwest of the present town of Magrath. In 1900
Tom Purcell discovered a coal seam in a coulee bank
where the Jensen Dam now forms a lake. Tom started
working the mine, and as the Mormon settlers were
taking up land in Raymond and Magrath areas, it looked
like a paying venture. Dave Akers decided this might be
more profitable than cattle ranching. He made a deal
and traded his cattle for Purcell's share in the mine.
Things prospered for awhile, then the seam started to
"peter out". Dave then wanted his cattle back, but
Purcell said "No, we made an honest deal in good faith,
so it stands, the cattle are mine". Akers returned to Fort
Whoop-Up, but he was bitter and brooded. Soon all the
ranchers were aware that Dave Akers carried a rifle and
was gunning for Purcell. His friends tried to talk him out
of his spite and determination to kill, but it was useless.
seemed to be no one around, so he gathered up what
he considered his share of the cattle and held them in
the corral. Just as he was ready to drive them out, Tom
Purcell came on the scene. He carried a rifle. Standing
it by the fence, he replaced the poles that formed the gate,
and warned Akers that the cattle were his, to leave them
alone. Akers had a heavy quirt in his hand and came for
the old man, who quickly reached for his rifle and shot
Akers dead. Purcell covered him with a blanket and
rode to Lethbridge to report to the police. At the
livery stable where he stopped to leave his horse, he
met a rancher from the Little Bow, George Baldwin,
who in the past had tried to get Tom to move his
spread to the Little Bow and away from Akers and the
Mormon farmers. Together they reported the fatality
to the police.
defense. Sympathy for Purcell ran high, and a story is
current that his friends gathering at the Lethbridge House
during a trip to town to buy the supplies and cheer necessary
for Christmas, decided to make an effort to have him released
in their custody for Christmas as he was awaiting trial.
Howell Harris, manager of both the Circle Ranch and the
Conrad Bros. Company, was the eloquent spokesman who
pleaded the case, and accepted custody of the prisoner.
After the celebration Tom returned to his cell. The trial
took place in the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Co. building
that overlooked Galt Gardens from its site on 7th Street,
between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. (The building was demolished
in 1966.) When the case came to court, there were many
witnesses who swore that Akers had made threats against
Purcell's life. Tom was sentenced to three years at Stony
Mountain jail but was paroled after one and a half years.
Tom Purcell left prison in a new suit, with fifteen dollars
in his pocket. He often said that better men than he spent
a longer term in jail for stealing a calf. He returned to his
ranch at Magrath for some time. Later he moved to the Little
Bow to be with his friend, George Baldwin. He died at the
ripe old age of eighty of pneumonia and was buried at
Carmangay.
John Healy. He was prospecting for gold. There was no
sign of gold, but the outcrop of coal seams along the river's
edge was enough to encourage him to open the first mine in
Southern Alberta, on the west bank of the river across from
Lethbridge, south of the C.P.R. bridge.
and from Fort Benton to Ft. Whoop-Up by ox team. As an
unmarried, charming girl, she had many suitors while she
acted as housekeeper for her brother, Nicholas Sheran.
In 1882, at Fort Whoop-Up, she was married to Joseph
McFarland, in a white eyelet embroidered gown with other
necessities purchased from the I.G. Baker store in Macleod.
The I.G. Baker Trading Co. of Fort Benton followed the
police into Macleod, starting a general store under manager
Howell Harris. McFarland, and a partner Olson, proved that
dairy stock could winter outside in Alberta when they operated
an early dairy in Macleod.
hunters and their numbers dropped, but the grass still grew.
The Indian Department had to have beef to fulfill their treaty
obligation to the Indians, the police required meat, as
did the traders and new settlers.
and others quickly followed. In 1880, the Dominion Government
established a ranch at Pincher Creek to feed the Peigan
Indians, under George Ives as manager. The cattle to
stock the ranches were driven north over the Fort Benton
Trail, a distance of two hundred and thirty miles from Ft.
Benton to Macleod. Demand soon outreached the resources
of Montana, and thousands of cattle travelled the long trek
from the Rio Grande in Texas to Alberta.
Mounted Police turned to ranching. Capt. Winder formed
the North West Cattle Co. In 1881, this company under
the manager Stinson, imported twenty-one well bred beef
bulls, and the same year trailed three thousand cattle
and seventy five horses from Ft. Benton. Cowboy John
Ware and Tom Lynch were in charge. In 1884, George
Lane joined the company as a manager and used the U brand,
as the original double circle brand blotched easily.
as low as one cent an acre per year. Leases could not
exceed 100,000 acres. In 1884 there were forty one
ranching companies in Southern Alberta leasing 2,748,000
acres and 115,000 cattle ran on the range. Five companies,
or cattle spreads, as they were called, held leases for 100,000
acres; the Halifax Ranching Co., Jones, Inderwick and McCaul,
the Cochrane Ranching Co., Oxley Ranch and the Walrond.
The first round up ever held in Alberta was organized in
Macleod in 1879, with sixteen riders and one wagon under
W.F. Parker as captain. The largest round up was in 1885
when Jim Dunlap was captain, with fifteen mess wagons,
one hundred men and five hundred horses. The round up
covered an area from Eighteen Mile Lake north of Stirling,
to Willow Creek and from Rocky Coulee to Mosquito Creek.
It was many weeks work for men and horses, but over sixty
thousand cattle were gathered. The last round up in the
area followed the hard winter of 1906-07. It had six wagons,
eighty five riders and one thousand horses.
were moving in, and the day when big spreads owned a quarter
section of land and leased a hundred thousand acres more,
was drawing to a close. In 1897 the Walrond Ranch, which
owned 1760 acres, bought one thousand acres more,
at $1.25 an acre. At this time their inventory showed 37,566
cattle. In 1905 they owned 37,566 acres. In 1908 the Walrond
ranch sold grass fed cattle at $26.50 per head to P. Burns and
Co.
farm produce are interesting. Barley and oats sold at six
cents a bushel, and wheat was 20 cents a bushel. Freight
from Macleod to Calgary was four cents a bushel. Beef
hides brought $2.50 each. Coal was $8.00 per ton at the
mine. Sugar cost 30 cents a pound, flour $15.00 per cwt.
Freight on a hundred pounds of flour from Fort Benton to Fort
Macleod was $3.00.
operated for these large companies by managers, were not
in Wilson, White, and Allenby area. Here the land was
grazed by smaller ranchers' herds. One of the earliest
ranchers was Mr. W. D. Whitney, better known as Curly
Whitney He had been with the Northwest Mounted Police.
At the end of his term of enlistment he started a ranch west
of Granum with another policeman, Daly. This started the
Whitney Brothers in the cattle business. Curly Whitney
located on the St. Mary's river where the road goes west
over a bridge to the reserve. He used the OK brand and
the double pot-hook. He purchased some land from George
Houk, and homesteaded the remainder. (George took a
second homestead south of the Russell ranch, after he sold
to Curley (W.D.) Whitney. He lived here with his Indian wife
until he moved into Lethbridge, where he passed the rest of
his years.) The first irrigation system was used on this land.
Mr. Whitney and a man named Smith made a water wheel.
They placed it in the river so the current turned the wheel,
bringing up water to be spilled into a conduit leading to
ditches used to irrigate.
Mounted Police and later moved to Lethbridge where he
operated a blacksmith shop and still later, a livery barn.
The land he acquired is now operated by Frank Russell
and B. G. Gwatkin.
Hassen place, now E. H. Russell's home. Paddy Hassen
came in 1885 as a squatter. The government later
recognized his right of ownership as a homesteader, after
the Homestead Act became law. He had Indian wives
and spoke the Blackfoot tongue. At one time he was an
interpreter after the Indian Treaty of 1877 placed the
Indians on reserves. During the Riel Rebellion he was a
scout with the army. Paddy also wintered the oxen of the
I.G. Baker Company's bull teams. He had an unfortunate
end. He went to Macleod where he appeared in court to
act as witness for the accused in a cattle rustling case.
It was a very involved case, and Paddy's evidence saved
his friend, however his own friends were not so loyal.
A charge was laid against Paddy and he died of cancer
in Stony Mountain prison in the early nineteen hundreds.
His land was bought by George Russell, a neighbor up river
to the south.
meridian in 1882 for the Dominion Government. In 1887
he built his home, using field stone and limestone rock
found along the river. He burned it to form lime for
mortar and cement. He started ranching along the St.
Mary's River and the Pot Hole Creek. His brand was
recorded as the figure 2 over the letter G, and is
registered in the Northwest Territory and Montana brand
book of 1888.
Sheran had Mine No. I - the C.P.R. 2-8. He had the permit for
mine no. 55, on his original home land, 18-7-21 W4 in the
Lethbridge Seam Horizon. His son Harold was born on this
ranch, the first boy born in Lethbridge. Alberta McNabb
Wallace was the first white child born in Lethbridge. Tom
(Frank H.) and Andrew lost their lives in the first World War
1914-18. Ernest, Fred and Florence - now Mrs. James B.
Henderson, reside in this area, Harold resides in Victoria.
A grandson Andrew Russell, the naturalist, guide, photographer
and author lives at the Hawk's Nest at Twin Butte, south
of Pincher Creek.
George Rowel who later built and operated the Dallas Hotel
in Lethbridge. Rowe settled on this ranch in 1883 and ran
horses. When he moved to Lethbridge he sold to Alexander
(Sandy) McNabb and his wife. Mr. and Mrs. McNabb had
worked for the C. Y. spread, owned by the Honorable Archie
McLean, Mrs. McNabb as cook and he as a ranch hand. In
1891 they bought the land on the St. Mary's, and here their
daughter Kathryn, better known as Katie or Kate, McNabb,
was raised. She became a teacher, and for many years taught
in Central School in Lethbridge. Later she went to the Yukon to
teach and for a time she taught in a mission school in China.
She retired in Vancouver.
Rollingson, who bought the land owned by James Ross,
better known as Scottie Ross. Scottie had homesteaded
the land, and obtained title, but found when the survey was
done for the sale, he had never lived on his own land, but
was on the adjacent quarter. Mr. Russell bought the Ross land,
and later sold it to Rollingson. These were the informal years
when red tape was something to ignore. James (Scottie) Ross,
however, ran horses in the White area until the airport enclosed
the last area of open grazing. Ernest and Fred Russell had
herds of cattle running on the home place - Florence Henderson
until recently was also interested in the cattle business. B. G.
Gwatkin and Frank Whitney were cattle ranchers, grazing the
prairies between Lethbridge and Stirling. However, by 1918
the farms had enclosed the land, so they leased land on the
Reserve for their operations. When Barney Gwatkin bought
the Curly Wlutney land he also bought the double pot-hook
brand and still uses it.
and as they were primarily responsible for the industrial
development of our area, it is interesting to see how they
earned this title.
since 1830 with the British American Land Co. This company
was interested in settling British immigrants on tracts of land
obtained from the British Crown. Their first venture was
settlement of the lower provinces of Quebec in the Gaspe
peninsula. In 1844 John Galt was Superintendent of the Canada Co.
when it obtained a large tract of land north of Lake Huron and
abounded on the "Huron Tract". It was Galt's job to settle this
land. His first enterprise was a road from Lake Huron to Lake
Erie to gain access. He founded the towns of Guelph and
Goderick. In 1851 the first railroad from Quebec to Lake Huron
was built by the Grand Trunk Railroad Co. Galt was well educated
and an author of note.
his work for confederation. His signature is one of those on the
original document as a Father of Confederation, he was a member
of parliament, and later served as Canada's High Commissioner to
London. It was while he was in this position that his son Elliot
Torrence Galt, then acting as assistant to the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, first visited the Lethbridge area of Southern Alberta. Here
he saw the outcropping of coal along the river, and the quality of
coal mined by Nicholas Sheran. Knowing his father was interested
in attracting British capital to Canada, he informed him of the
opportunity that appeared to be in mining coal in Southern Alberta.
Later the Galts asked William Stafford from Westport, Nova Scotia,
and Capt. Nicholas Bryant to investigate the site. On receiving
a favorable report, the North West Coal Co. opened their first mine
on the river bottom, but above high water, in 1882.
end three boats and 25 barges were built. The first, the "Baroness",
named for Baroness Burdett Coutts of Coutts Bank, London, was
built in Lethbridge. She was 250 feet long, had a beam of 25
feet, and a draft of 3 to 4 feet. The "Alberta", named for the
Territory, was built in Medicine Hat, and the "Minnow" was
built in Fort Garry. However, this costly experiment was not
a success, although on July 4,1883, the Baroness had steam up
and was moving on the river. The barges loaded 1,000 tons
of coal each, but three empty barges were all the Baroness
could bring up river from Medicine Hat. The North West
railroad at Medicine Hat, but the barges only delivered 3,000
tons on the contract.,
Medicine Hat to Lethbridge. Construction started and it was
completed August 4, 1885. Over this narrow gauge line
20,000 tons of coal were delivered to the C.P.R. in Medicine Hat.
Coal was moving to Benton and Great Falls by wagon, but the
American Railroads were a potential market. In 1890 starting
from both ends, a line was built, connecting Lethbridge to Great
Falls. The present railroad follows the same line. The company
had a profitable experience in Lethbridge, employing over 2,000
men. No. 3 mine in Staffordville was in operation for 27 years,
and No. 6 at Hardieville was the largest mine in Canada. In
1906 the C.P.R. bought the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Co
and their assets of lands, mineral rights, irrigation systems and mines.
By 1948 the last boom of the coal industry was on the wane,
but over 24,000,000 tons of coal had been removed from the
Lethbridge mine. There were over 1,800 miles of mine entries,
varying from 8 feet to 30 feet wide. In 1920, the mines produced
over 2,000 tons a day and the monthly payroll exceeded a quarter
of a million dollars per month.
of land per mile of road, and an option to purchase a million
acres at $10.00 per acre, for building the railway from Lethbridge
to Medicine Hat and Great Falls. Land was an asset, as
settlers were moving into the territories, but it had to be sold
to pay the cost of building the railway. Sir Alexander Galt had
a son-in-law, Charles A. Magrath, who was a surveyor. Magrath
had surveyed much of the Southern Alberta territories. He was
brought to Lethbridge to act as Land Commissioner for the
company in 1891.
top of the coulees in 1900. In 1890 Lethbridge had a population
of 1,443. in 1901 it was incorporatedas a town, with its first
mayor C. A. Magrath, and the population had grown to 2,072.
Lethbridge at this time had a newspaper, the Lethbridge News;
four churches, Presbyterian, Anglican, Catholic and Methodist;
and a Board of Trade with C. A. Magrath as president. A four
room school provided education, and the town was well supplied
with grocery and dry goods stores, hardware stores, barber shops,
livery stables, a water delivery service, a brewery, and other
business firms catering to the needs of the townsmen and the
ranchers.
He visited eastern Canada and the United States to interest
settlers in moving to this new land. He went to Utah and saw
how the Mormon people had watered the desert and made it
produce. On his return he surveyed the land to evaluate
the possibilities of irrigation. He reported to the company the
possibility of taking water from the St. Mary's river about 60
miles from Lethbridge and by building canals, to deliver it as far
east as Chin Lakes. He was told to go ahead, more money
was raised, and the company changed its name to the Alberta
Railway and Irrigation Co. Elliot Galt was president and C. A.
Magrath was Land Commissioner. Their mandate was to attract
settlers.
From Lethbridge Centennial History, by Alex
Lethbridge Board of Trade formed Sept. 16, 1889,
Johnston/Andy den Otter
elected C.A. Magrath as their first president, a choice he
felt "turned out an excellent move, as it brought about
a contact that grew into a harmonious and active
cooperation between the citizens of Lethbridge and
the Company (A.R. & C) for the development of the district
which was of great moment for both". Charles Magrath
became first mayor of the newly-incorporated Town of
Lethbridge in 1891, and Land Commissioner for the new
Company (A.R. & I.) in 1904.
Stirling and Lethbridge were completed, Elliott Galt
redoubled his efforts to develop the countryside.
A brochure stressed the certainty of good crops
with irrigation, saying "The farmer is his own rainmaker."
He launched an advertising campaign to lure settlers
to the company's land.
Miscellaneous Histories
Mary Tollestrup